


The Light in the Dark

by rainbowspring



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bullying, Drama, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/F, F/M, Family, Female Friendship, Feminist Themes, Femslash, Friendship, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Love, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Marauders' Era, Mental Health Issues, Psychological Trauma, Romance, Sexual Harassment, implied prostitution
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-07-11 02:04:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7021276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowspring/pseuds/rainbowspring
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were some days when she just wanted to give him a hug, for no apparent reason, as if a hug could erase all of the bad things in his life and replace them with an endless cycle of euphoria. What a world that would be, Lily mused. If casual yet intimate embraces could erase all of a person's darkness that lay lurking in their past and envelop their future in light.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mary Mary Quite Contrary

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This story is mostly about Snape and- especially- Lily, but there will be several chapters focusing on other characters as well. I originally wanted to write the first chapter from Snape or Lily’s perspective, since they are the main characters after all, but I just had this idea about Mary and couldn't refrain from writing this first, although Lily does play a significant role in this chapter... Please Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Mary Macdonald was a highly reticent girl. She had always been something of an outsider, which astounded everyone who knew her. After all, with her looks one would expect a girl like her to have many friends. Fair-skinned, with a long loose raven waterfall of curls that constituted as her hair, and icy blue eyes, she was ever the cool beauty. Unfortunately, some of the words that came out of her mouth were not anywhere near as attractive as her outward appearance. So maybe, she reasoned as she struggled to deflect the hex Mulciber had just put on her, if she had just kept her mouth shut like normal, she wouldn't be in this mess. It had all started a couple of hours ago…

Mary had a job in Hogsmeade that no one aside from the faculty knew about; she worked as one of the waitresses at the Three Broomsticks on school nights. Since students weren't allowed out in Hogsmeade on school nights, no one ever saw her at work. Mary had express permission from Dumbledore himself to work there at that particular time; he knew her family was falling apart. Her father had been a wonderful man until the day he died… which was just a few years before Mary started Hogwarts. Once upon a time the Macdonalds had been financially stable. Her father had been a Healer at St. Mungo's, and had been researching a cure for Dragon Pox. He wound up injecting a portion of the disease into himself in order to test the cure he thought he had discovered for it, only to find out that not only did his cure not work, it only caused the disease to spread much faster around the body. The other Healers could not cure him by the time they arrived; it was too late.

Mrs. Macdonald did not work; she had never finished her education and therefore she had difficulty finding employment. Mary's mother had gotten pregnant at the young age of 15; she had dropped out of school to take care of her first child before she had even taken her O.W.L.s.

_("I 'ad always been rubbish a' schoo' anyway',"Mary's mother said on the subject. )_

As such **,** Mary's mother (Whose real name was Matilda, but who the men all called Tilly when they came around, much to Mary's disgust) had much more difficulty finding work than the average witch living in Britain already did. A witch who had completed her education and had qualifications may still have difficulty finding a steady job, but it would not have been anywhere near as arduous as it had been for Matilda Macdonald, who did not even have any O.W.L qualifications.

So it was more or less up to Mary to earn most of the money for the family; _Tilly,_ as her _clients_ liked to call her, had given up on keeping a steady job and decided to go seek out a more…unsavory occupation. None of Mary's classmates knew of her job; she did not want anyone to even suspect that the Macdonalds were less than well off in any sense of the word. In fact, she doubted that any of her schoolmates even knew her father was _dead_. And God forbid any of them find out about poor desperate _Tilly_ …

Mary had been in the middle of her shift one night when she saw something, or more accurately, _someone_ , who made her heart skip a bit. Malum Mulciber was sitting at the bar just five feet away from her, looking her directly in the eye.

"What are you doing here MacDonald? "He asked as if he had every right to be there, or had any more right than she.

"What does it look like I'm doing, I'm working." Mary scanned the crowd, to see if there was absolutely anything she could be doing to avoid having to talk to this creep. And creep he was; Mulciber had an unusual and disturbing obsession with the Dark Arts and, rumor had it, was very experienced in them. His family was all Death Eaters, and Mary wouldn't be surprised if he went the same way. Mary herself was half-blood; she would not have called herself a Blood Traitor, but her family did not care one way or the other about blood purity and the war going on at the moment; they were too busy about making ends meet to care about that sort of thing. Both of her parents were Half-Blood, and therefore did not have much to say on the issue either way even if her father had come back to life and they weren't struggling so much right now…

"Damn right you are, "he smirked. "I'd like to order a drink."

"What are you doing here? "She wondered. "Students aren't allowed out on school nights. How did you beat the system?"

"Why are you working here? "He countered.

"What would you like to drink? "She attempted to change the subject.

"Firewhiskey,"He answered immediately.

She returned with his drink a few minutes later. "Anything else?"

"You know, I hear that in these fancy restaurants waitresses are supposed to call customers sir,"Mulciber mused.

"And I am pretty sure you have no place being here right now, yet here you are. "Mary slammed the glass onto the table, almost breaking it.

Mulciber tsked tsked."Now now now, you wouldn't want me to complain to the manager about a particularly surly waitress, would you?"

Mary glared in response; he had the upper hand here and they both knew it.

Mulciber grinned mockingly." Now, would you like to rephrase that question?"

"Would you like anything else… _sir_? "She spat, humiliated.

"Well,"his lips twitched once more. "There are many things I would like, but… I think I will tell you those when your shift is done. What time do you get off?"

Mary looked at the clock; it was now 8:15P.M. "Half an hour, "she lied; in reality she got off at 9:30, but surely he wouldn't wait that long; students had to be in their common rooms by 9:00. Although, if he had no qualms about sneaking off to Hogsmeade, he probably wouldn't have a problem with being out of bed after hours. Still, there was no way he'd be willing to wait for over an hour for her, so she should be able to shake him off.

Mulciber did not seem at all perturbed by this; on the contrary he only smiled serenely. "I can wait until then."

Mary continued on with her shift and was relieved to see that by 9:00P.M Mulciber had already left. She had managed to evade him by serving other customers instead, so the rest of the night should be a breeze. It would be a bit of a walk to go back to the castle and enter her common room, but she should be able to start finishing the rest of her homework by 10:00P.M., which would hopefully only take about two more hours or so(she had already started much of her homework before her work) and then she could go to bed.

Half an hour later Mary had just exited the pub when a voice said, "you've been a bad, bad girl Mary Macdonald." Mary screamed and whirled around to find Mulciber standing right behind her. Gathering her bearings, she demanded, "You! What the hell are you playing at? I thought you went back to the castle."

"I told you I could wait, "It was then that Mary noticed his breath reeked of alcohol. "You were the one who lied; you said your shift would be over almost an hour ago."

"Well of course I lied, "Mary laughed coldly. "Who would ever want to spend more time than necessary in the company of an arrogant freak like you?"

" Tut Tut. That was a rather naughty thing to say now wasn't it Mary?” Mulciber did not seem out off by her insult.

"The truth can hurt sometimes, "Mary snapped and started to walk away. Mulciber grabbed her and before she could as much as yelp he kissed her, causing her to drop her wand. Mary had already had her first kiss when she was much younger, but that did not make the experience of kissing Mulciber any less repulsive. His breath stank and he tasted terrible. She kicked him between his legs, causing him to let out a yell and curl up in the fetus position.

"You," she snarled. "Are the most terrible kisser on the planet. No girl would ever want to kiss a man like you: you are vile, vulgar, and quite frankly you make me sick. No one could ever love a mutant like you, and a mutant is what you are Mulciber; I assure you I am nowhere near naive of the evils of this world and the cruelty in it, but you are the epitome of scum. Even the cruelest of human beings are not like you; you are scum beneath even _their_ shoes. I highly doubt a mutant like you is even human." And with that being said, she turned on her heel and left. She soon broke into a run. That was by far the worst thing she had ever said to anybody in her entire life, although it did occur to Mary that she could be rather cold sometimes. It fleetingly occurred to Mary that she may not be as good a person as she liked to believe; in over four years of magical education, when had she ever said hello to somebody without being spoken to first, or complimented any of her classmates? She was not a friendly person; she did not have time for friends between school work and actual work. She had to make sure she did not wind up like her mother. She had to escape her life as soon as possible, and the best way to for that was to work hard and focus on what mattered most: Her studies and earning enough money so her family could survive, and maybe one day she would earn enough so that _Tilly_ would not have to work again…or at least, so that she could find a better job than the one she had now, if you could even call such an occupation a career. That's all her life was really: Learn, work study, work, taking care of the family, and, occasionally, sleeping and eating.

She had never even bothered trying to make friends at Hogwarts; what was the point? They would never get her in life anywhere. She knew some people had tried to reach out to her when she first got to Hogwarts, had tried to befriend her. She had never been truly mean to any of her classmates before tonight; she had only remained distant and acted a bit cool with people. Cold, perhaps, but not actually mean. Soon it seemed most of her classmates realized that she just did not seek companionship and so they ignored her and she them. Everyone except one. Lily Evans.

Lily Evans, who reminded Mary so much of her father it was haunting. She was polite to everyone she knew, regardless of whether she liked them or not; although quite frankly Mary doubted Lily really disliked anybody. Except, perhaps, Mulciber and Avery(she had noticed Lily give them dirty looks a few times, although she had never seen Lily lash out at them like she just did) in which case she totally understood her dislike of them. She had seen Lily yell at James Potter before, but only when he was beginning a bully. The rest of the time she acted perfectly civil towards him, and a few times Mary even swore she saw her smile at him or laugh at a joke he just said. She even somehow managed to act civil towards even Mulciber and Avery. Never friendly, but civil at least. It did not help that Lily Evans was practically the spitting image of her father, with that long auburn hair and those vivid green eyes.

Mary had always been polite towards Lily, but had never tried to engage her in conversation despite sharing a dormitory with her for several years. That wasn't to say that Lily had never tried to talk to her though; Lily, even after all these years, still acted kindly and friendly towards her, and Mary would be lying, she realized now as she walked up the hill past the Whomping Willow, if she had said she had not enjoyed Lily acting as if she actually…well, _cared_ about Mary and viewed her as a friend, making time to ask her how she was.

Mary had reached almost reached the castle when she heard a voice and felt her body go still. "That wasn't a nice thing you said to me before Mary." Mulciber had followed her back to the castle. "I think you ought to be taught a lesson Macdonald. You probably think you can say whatever you want just because you've got a pretty face. Let's see if you still can when people can't even see it." It was then that Mary noticed her hair was growing at an alarming rate; it was flowing past her hips and her fringe had grown down to her eyes now. In fact, it wasn't even the hair on her head that was growing like this; it seemed that all the hair on her body was growing at an alarming rate. She screamed, trying to move but found herself stuck to the ground. She reached for her wand when she remembered: she had dropped it when Mulciber had accosted her earlier. Mulciber smirked, dangling her wand in front of her face. "You probably won't be able to see soon, but being the generous soul that I am, I think you would like to see your wand one last time before you look like a yeti. That will learn you not to disobey me, and will hopefully serve as a lesson towards everyone else… I must say, that Lily Evans has always been a rather pretty girl, but she really has become quite the alluring young woman as of late…"The last thing Mary saw before her hair and her eyelashes grew so that they covered her eyes was Mulciber licking his lips hungrily.

Mary felt a surge of anger. "Don't you dare harm her, you bastard!"

"Oh? What are you going to do to me, yeti?" Mulciber taunted.

Mary cursed angrily at him, using all of the swear words she had learned from the men that visited her mother, which were fairly impressive swears, but this did nothing to daunt Mulciber. He only laughed harder.

Soon the hair covered Mary's mouth and she could not even scream. Mary's face was now immersed in hair. The only part of her body that was not covered in hair was her nostrils; the physical pain was as painful as her emotional turmoil.

"Mulciber! What are you doing!" Mary realized could not tell who possessed the voice, only that it was a male and he sounded very familiar.

"Teaching Macdonald a lesson Lupin,"Mulciber answered calmly. "She was quite rude to me earlier."

"LEAVE HER ALONE!"Mary heard a second voice she recognized as Lily Evans'. She then felt a pair of arms around her, attempting to lift her up, but she was stuck to the ground. White hot pain stabbed every inch of her body. Mary wanted to cry. "Take the curse off of her!" Lily shouted at Mulciber.

"Hmm, I don't really feel like it."Mulciber pretended to think about it.

"Malum Mulciber, we are prefects and if you don't take the curse off of her we will-"

"Ooh, the big bad prefects are going to take off house points! "Mulciber pretended to be frightened. "I'm really scared now."

"Remus, I am going to go get a teacher, "Lily was saying now. "Keep an eye on this sicko for me and see if there's anything you can do to help Mary."

"Okay, "the other prefect responded and Mary realized with a jolt that it was Remus Lupin.

"Moony, what's going on?" Yet another voice spoke. "What's this blighter doing here? What happened to…her?"

"BLOODY HELL!" One more new appalled voice exclaimed. Mary would have groaned if she could; was the entire bloody _school_ there?

"Mulciber cursed Mary; Lily and I were doing our rounds when we heard screaming and came by to see what was going on. Mulciber has refused to take the curse off her and Lily went to get a teacher. We tried taking Mary to the hospital Wing but Mulciber's curse doesn't allow her to move. "

Mulciber laughed sadistically.

"You sick twisted son of a bitch," One of the voices growled.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Black, "Mulciber retorted and Mary realized Sirius Black was here with them. Now there was only one voice she did not recognize.

"What is going on? "A shrill voice demanded, and then gasped at the sight of Mary.

"Mulciber won't take the curse off of her Professor McGonagall," The unidentified voice informed her.

"Mulciber, take the curse off of Miss Macdonald this instant!"

A reluctant sigh. "Yes, Professor."

Nothing happened for a moment. Mary then stood up, but unsuccessfully, as she fell back down again due to the hair in her face obscuring her vision and blurring all of her other senses too, it seemed. Her body felt like it was burning.

Mulciber laughed cruelly, which resulted in McGonagall scolding, "MULCIBER! You are in enough trouble as it is, I would hardly think that something to laugh about! Why did the hair not shrink?"

"I don't know Ma'am," He answered. "This is the first time I've ever used the counter curse for that spell before."

Even in her blind condition Mary could see McGonagall frown. "Very well. Miss Evans, Potter, Black, and Lupin, take Miss MacDonald up to the Hospital Wing. Later, I shall question why , Potter, you and Black were here out of bed. But for now, help Miss MacDonald to the hospital wing. Mulciber, I shall be taking you to your head of house to speak about this."

Mary felt a pair of arms around her waist, gingerly lifting her up. Behind the hair, she screamed in agony .

"Up you get Mary, "She heard a consoling male voice saying as another pair of arms gripped hers. "Everything will be all right. Just walk, we're right here." Mary had no idea what was happening on their walk to the Hospital Wing; she was only aware of the sounds of Potter's, Black's, Lupin's, and Lily's consoling voices guiding her in the right direction. Mary disliked it almost as much as being under the physically pain inducing curse itself; one would think she were a baby, learning how to walk for the first time, the way they were doting on her. When at last they reached the Hospital Wing, Mary heard Lily, Remus, Sirius, and James explain to Madam Pomfrey what they had gathered had happened. Mary could not provide any information; the hair shielding her mouth prevented her from speaking.

She still had the ability to- however limited- breathe through her nose and hear though. "You all may go now; I shall administer some painkillers and a dreamless sleep potion so she does not wake up during the night; removing all this hair is not going to be a pretty experience. Although, I am sure the physical pain of that curse was even worse than this is going to be… the levels of pain from that curse is roughly a third as bad as the actual Cruciatus… the only problem is I am going to have to get rid of some of the hair on her mouth in order to administer the potion.. I would recommend leaving now: She will probably scream something awful being as this will hurt quite a bit for a few minutes. "

"I'd like to stay with her, in that case then, ma'am. "Mary heard Lily's voice and felt a cold hand wrap around her furry one. It felt good partially due to the fact her palms were sweating uncontrollably underneath all the hair, which had exerted a substantial amount of heat throughout her body.

"Me too, "James Potter added, who was then seconded by Black and Lupin.

The nurse was silent for a moment before relenting.

The next thing Mary knew she felt as if someone had ripped a particularly large and sticky piece of duck tape off of her mouth. She let out a tortured cry. She felt the grip on her hand tighten. It continued on this way for what felt like ages but in reality was only a few more minutes before finally Madam Pomfrey murmured, "The pain is over now. I shall now administer the necessary potions so that she won't be awake for the rest of this. You may go now."

Mary felt some liquid pour into her mouth, and then blacked out.

When Mary awoke, sunlight was streaming through the windows and her body felt extremely sore. She looked around realizing she was in the hospital wing. It took her a moment to remember the events of last night and immediately lifted up her hand to see if there was any hair left, an action which left her feeling both relieved and regretful. Relieved because her hand was as hairless as it was before- although, she knew that all parts of the human body had hair on them, regardless of whether or not it was visible- and an action she regretted because it seemed simply moving her body was extremely painful due to how sore she was. She moaned.

"Ah, you're awake I see. "Madam Pomfrey bustled over.

"How long was I out for? "Mary inquired.

"It's midafternoon right now, "Madam Pomfrey replied. "So you were out for less than 24 hours."

A sudden thought occurred to Mary. "My homework-I never got to finish-"

"It's all right dear, you are excused from classes for today and tomorrow as well, "Madam Pomfrey assured her. "After that is the weekend, so I am sure between now and Monday you will have plenty of time to catch up on all of the work you have missed."

Yet another thought occurred to Mary. "Will I be able to go to work today?"

"Absolutely not, "Madam Pomfrey said firmly.

"But my family-"

"Will be able to survive just a couple of days without extra pay, "Madam Pomfrey assured her." Moreover, I am sure that when – _and only when-_ you are better you can make up for the lost hours somehow. In fact, the Headmaster has already notified your employers about this little predicament and that you shall be missing work tonight and tomorrow. For now, all you can do is rest. You're too sore to even get out of this bed. Although, when you are well enough to walk again-which hopefully will be in a few hours- I would like you to examine yourself to make sure all of your hair proportions are exactly the way you want them to be."

Mary gave a reluctant sigh and closed her eyes before asking, "Is school over yet?"

"I believe that in roughly fifteen minutes classes will have finished for the day, "the nurse answered." And therefore in approximately 20 minutes Lily Evans shall come in here to give you your homework. She came in here during lunch time when you were still unconscious to see how you were doing as well as to deliver the homework from your morning classes. She told me to expect that she would drop by after school to deliver your work from your afternoon classes."

Mary nodded and silently griped about missing work and school because of Mulciber. She had never liked him; in fact, she had somewhat disliked him even before last night; she had found him to be rather annoying. Now, if anyone had asked Mary for her opinion on him, she would not have hesitated to say she hated him; Mary was not exactly the forgiving type and it was not unknown for her to hold a grudge against someone for years. Mary knew in this instant she would never drop this newfound grudge against Malum Mulciber. It was _his_ fault she would be behind on her schoolwork. It would be _his_ fault if he told the whole school about her job and people started speculating what _Tilly_ did for a living.(Although, Mulciber thankfully didn't know _that_ little piece of information, so hopefully nobody would draw _that_ particular conclusion.) It was _his_ fault her family would have to get by for a few days without the extra money she sent them.

As Mary mulled over this, she heard the door to the Hospital wing open and she opened her eyes. Lily Evans entered the room, carrying some books and worksheets. "Hello, how are you? "She greeted as she laid the books and paper on the table next to Mary.

"…Fine, "Mary lied.

"I brought you some homework from your classes today, "Lily answered. "I went through your trunk to get your books-"

"You what?!"Mary exclaimed sharply, heart pounding. She had a couple of photographs she would die if anybody saw that she kept hidden at the bottom of her trunk. One of which was a photo of her and her mother standing in front of her rundown house…if you could even call it an ordinary house really, what with its condition and all of the men who came and went…

"I-"Lily clearly had not expected this reaction.

"What did you see? "Mary demanded.

"I-I saw some books and…a photograph, "Lily confessed, deciding that lying would only make the situation worse.

"What was the photograph of? "Mary whispered.

"A pretty young girl who looked a lot like you…standing in front of a…small house in poor condition… with a pretty woman who looked almost exactly like her, except grown up, "Lily replied cautiously.

Mary was silent for a moment before the words came out of her mouth before she could stop them. "I live there you know…that's me in the picture, and my mum."

"Oh."Lily did not know what to say.

"We've been living there for years….have to, since my dad's not around anymore to take care of us…"and with that being said Mary spilled her entire laugh story to Lily. She told her about her father, how they were evicted from their home, about her job in Hogsmeade, and about what _Tilly_ did for a living now. Mary was disgusted when felt tears roll down her face. Mary Macdonald _never_ cried. Ever. Not even when Mulciber had hexed her. She immediately lifted up her arm to wipe away her tears on her sleeve, and when she was done she slowly looked up and saw the Lily had tears streaming down her face too.

From then on, Mary had a friend at Hogwarts who knew about her home life and never told her secrets. _Ever_. And her name was Lily Evans.

As for Mulciber, while he did get punished for his deeds, some people, or at least Lily, felt he got off far too lightly.

"You won't believe it, "Lily said the next day when she arrived to give Mary her homework after school.

"What?" Asked Mary. The headmaster had arrived earlier that day in the Hospital Wing to hear Mary's –who was now entirely 100%back to normal-recollection of the events that had transpired in Hogsmeade with Lily, Remus, James, Sirius, and Professor McGonagall to hear their sides of the story as well. She hoped Lily was going to say Mulciber got expelled.

"Here is the list of rules Mulciber violated as follows for what he did the other day: He was out of bed after hours, out of school grounds at night without permission, disobeyed prefects, sexually harassed you, and used Dark Magic on you. I would think that at the very least the combination of all of those offenses should warrant suspension, wouldn't you?"

"Right, "Mary said slowly.

"Well, it's not like he's receiving no punishment at all, but I still think more action needs to be taken: he's only getting three months of detention." Lily informed her.

Mary scowled crossly. True, three months of detention was severe, but wasn't what he did to her worth more punishment than that in addition to all of those other offenses.

"I know, "Lily agreed. "If I were in charge, not only would he be suspended for a week, but when he came back he would have detention every week day for the rest of the year."

"Wow Evans, you would sure make one strict headmistress, "Mary remarked. "Why wouldn't you just expel him and be done with it?"

"Because I don't think expulsion would be so bad in his case,"

Mary gaped at Lily. "How could that _not_ be bad?"

"Well, "Lily explained. "It would of course, be very difficult for him to pursue his magical education, but he would no doubt be able to do it. Oh, I'm sure at his next school the teachers would keep an eye on him, and his parents would be disappointed in him and may punish him further, but that would be all that would happen really. I'm not saying expulsion would not be serious,-because it would be- but as a pureblood wizard from a wealthy family he would not have any trouble continuing his education, and apart from maybe his parents disciplining him, nothing would happen really. However, if he were not only suspended, but punished even further than that, he would hopefully be much more disciplined at the end of the year than he was at the beginning. "

Mary was stunned at the intelligence and thought behind that explanation. "I have to admit, you may have a point."

Lily blushed. "Thank you. Anyway, who knows? Maybe Mulciber will get better. "She sounded so innocently optimistic in this that Mary didn't have the heart to express her skepticism. She remembered a time when she was vaguely like that.

A/N: I like to think that after the Mary incident took place Mulciber lied to all of his friends that Mary had just randomly gone up to him, saying these nasty things so he had hexed her. I think this being as I believe that even at this point Snape wouldn't be so messed up that he would find it socially acceptable for Mulciber to sexually harass a girl and then hex her after defending herself. Also, Mulciber would probably be too embarrassed to admit his failed attempts at "seduction" to his friends, so he would want to make Mary seem like she was just begin unjustly mean to him for no reason, and that therefore-in his opinion- he was in the right to use that curse on her. I think that this explanation would explain Snape and Lily's interactions during that brief scene in DH where Mary is mentioned; Lily would not realize Snape had only heard one side of the story, and Snape would not realize there was more to it, hence him dismissing it off as "just a laugh."  
Questions: What do you think of Mary? Of Lily? Of Mulciber? Was Mulciber punished too harshly, not enough, or just right?  
Please review!:D


	2. Innocence and Corruption

 

Chapter 2: Innocence and Corruption

_Pick up. Please pick up. For the love of Merlin please pick up._

For the ordinary teenage boy, simply waiting for someone to answer the phone would not have caused such anxiety. For Severus Snape, on the other hand, it most certainly could and did. As he pressed the phone to his ear, listening to the dial, he silently prayed that  _she_  would answer. Or at the very least her mother would answer; unlike her father and her sister, her mother actually seemed to like him for some strange reason. Maybe she only felt sorry for him. It did not matter to him, so long as he was able to talk to her: Lily.

Petunia, if she were the one to answer the phone, would more often than not point blank refuse to let him speak to Lily. She seldom would even let Lily know he called. Mr. Evans, at least, would always grudgingly give Lily the phone or take a message if she weren't available, but only after several minutes of interrogation regarding his intentions towards his youngest daughter. And Snape needed to hear her voice. _Now_.

His wish was granted when he heard her voice answer the phone. Before she could say anything other than hello, he said one word. "Playground." As soon as he received confirmation from her, he hung up.

He gave himself a quick once over in the broken mirror(courtesy of his father) and, even with the distorted image reflected through the shattered looking glass, could tell he looked even worse than usual. He sported two black eyes and a nasty scratch on his right cheek, while a fresh bruise marred his left one.

Next, he proceeded to stealthily slip out of the house, being as quiet as possible. Although, he highly doubted his parents cared whether or not he left (most days they didn't even notice)but he didn't want to ignite the ire of his father again after he had just calmed down.  _Or else I'll have more of these blighters to speak for,_ he thought grimly.

Once out of the house _(out of Hell_ ), he ran. Broke into a mad run and sprinted away. Away from the hell that was his home. Away from the dark and into the light, when he at last saw her waiting for him. She was an angel siting on a swing, he thought to himself as he approached her.

"Brownie?" This was the only word that came out of her mouth as soon as she saw his face, and the damage that had been done to it. As she spoke, she extended her left arm, revealing a piece of fudge in her hand. "Mum made some fudge right before you called. I already had some, but there was still a lot left over so I thought you might want some."

He hated taking things from her, he really did,-her gracing someone such as him with her presence willingly automatically left him indebted to her- but under the circumstances, he was inclined to say, "Thanks, "and take it out of her hand before promptly taking a bite out of it. Though an observer would not have thought anything was wrong had it not been for the bruises on his face, he was scared. Hurt. Both physically and emotionally, even if he would refuse to admit it. He was still suffering from the aftershock inflicted by his father, and would accept any kindness he received without question.

He sat down on the swing next to her; the playground was deserted except for the two of them. It wasn't simply the fact that he had received a beating that was jarring to Severus; he received beatings at home on a regular basis. The only reason it wasn't more often was because his parents sometimes seemed to forget their son's existence. Some days he couldn't decide which he would prefer: Getting beaten every day or having his parent never even acknowledge his existence ever again.

No, what had happened today was out of the ordinary: The abuse had been more severe than it normally was for starters, and what it was about was different than usual. Severus's father beat his wife, Severus supposed, even more often than he beat his son. Today though he was much worse than usual. Severus's mother had been having an affair with another man. Severus knew this. Thankfully Tobias, Severus's idiot of a father, was still in the dark. However, Tobias had, before his son had even been born, suspected his wife of gallivanting around with other men for no logical reason. This was well before even Severus started noticing his mother writing letters when she thought she was alone, her frequent stares out the window that contained the same look of longing Severus had grown accustomed to, but now contained a look of something else as well, or her applying makeup and constantly examining her appearance in the mirror, or taking care to smooth out the wrinkles in her discolored, bland, graying clothes. For whatever reason, Tobias Snape was constantly paranoid about his wife leaving him, or betraying him by running around with other men. He was almost always incorrect. This time was one of the few times in the history of the world that he was right. About anything.

Tobias may have not noticed these signs that Severus had; he was just accusing his wife again, as it was not uncommon for him to do. Snape had, when his father leaned in to attack, jumped in front of his mother, Eileen, so that his father's blow struck him instead of her. Snape defended Eileen to the best of his ability, but was still no match for Tobias's strength. Maybe, Severus mused, the brute actually did have an inkling about what his wife was doing, and that was why he had been even more vile than usual.

Snape remembered the conversation he had had with his mother two weeks previously when he saw her come back to the house after midnight(he had been up in his room reading when he decided to fetch a snack-he had not ate since breakfast- and had crept downstairs to find his mother locking the door):

" _What are you doing up? "Eileen demanded. "Get back to bed before you father-"_

" _Dad's sleeping it off,"(Tobias had gone on one of his binges that day. Snape privately hoped he would get alcohol poisoning and die before it could be treated in time.) "What were you doing out?"_

" _That's none of your concern,"_   _Eileen hissed. It was then that Snape noticed her lipstick was smudged at the corner of her mouth, and that her neck had a red mark on it that was certainly unlike the injuries Tobias inflicted on his family._

" _Is that a hickey?" He blurted out and instantly regretted it when his mother knocked him upside the head. Eileen Prince Snape seldom hit her child, but when she did, Severus knew it was never a good sign._

" _In my day, sons were taught not to speak that way to their mothers. Now go. To. Bed." Her voice was dangerous, and ordinarily Severus would have retreated, but before he could stop himself he continued,_

" _You're having an affair, aren't you? How long has it been going on? I've been seeing the signs for a while."_

_She clapped her hand over his mouth. "Shut up. Suppose your father came in here and heard-"_

_Snape removed her hand from his mouth. "I told you, he's asleep. He'll be lucky if he even wakes up tomorrow. Who's this bloke your seeing?"_

" _It doesn't matter who he is, "she muttered." Just don't tell your father."_

" _Is he rich?" Severus wondered, silently praying the answer was yes: If it was, he could take Severus and Eileen away from Tobias and they would be financially stable as well as safe._

" _Maybe, "Eileen might as well have told her son nothing: Eileen was the type of person who when they said maybe, actually meant maybe. Nothing more, nothing less. For all Severus knew, this man could be wealthier than Potter or poorer than the Weasleys._

" _Is he going to get us out of here?"_

" _Yes."_

" _When?"_

_Eileen didn't answer him; Severus judged from her silence that she did not know._

" _Is he a decent sort of man?"_

" _Yes,"Eileen stated, but there was a note of hesitation in her voice._

" _Then why hasn't he got you out of here yet? Any decent bloke would have by now."_

_When he met only silence he pressed on. "He's probably only in it for the sex, then."_

_Eileen nearly fainted. "W-What did you just-" Words failed her._

" _Well, if he really loved you, -even if he didn't know all the details-he could still clearly tell something was wrong and would make more of an effort to help you after so long. I mean, what has he done for you?"_

_Her silence told him his answer: Nothing._

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lily did not know about his mother's affair. Or what it was about this time. But anyone with eyes who knew Severus like she did could clearly infer what had happened. Lily Evans had(and perhaps in some instances with good reason)been deemed as "naive" on countless occasions, but she wasn't  _blind_. She knew-to a certain extent- about the abuse he suffered at home. She would never forget the day when she found out. They had been ten years old when after a particularly nasty beating he broke down sobbing and ran to her, desperate for any form of comfort.

Moments like that rarely happened anymore now that they were older; Severus had learned to hide his feelings shockingly well. Still, there were moments like these when, even though to the casual observer he would seem perfectly fine aside from his poor clothing and injuries, she could sense he was hurting. Not just physically, but emotionally too. Badly.

There were some days when she just wanted to give him a hug, for no apparent reason, as if a hug could erase all of the bad things in his life and replace them with an endless cycle of euphoria. What a world that would be, Lily mused. If casual and intimate embraces could erase all of a person's darkness that lay lurking in their past and envelop their future in light.

Severus was quiet for a moment before answering. "No." Lily nodded, not expecting anything any different. Silence clouded the atmosphere for a moment when Snape spoke again.

"Actually, my mum's having an affair."

Lily certainly had not been expecting that. She deemed it best to remain silent though; years of friendship had taught her that sometimes it was best for Severus to break the ice in situations like this.

"She came home a few weeks ago after midnight and it was fairly obvious what she had been doing. She even confessed she was cheating on Dad; not that I blame her though. She says she's going to run off with whoever she's involved with and we'll get away one day, but… "He shook his head. "This has been going on for ages. If there was any chance of escape, I think it would have appeared by now." Severus chose to give Lily a slightly censored version of the story; he was more than a little uncomfortable at the prospect of enlightening sweet innocent Lily that he had told his mother her boyfriend was, as he had so eloquently phrased it," only in it for the sex".

Lily did not know how to respond to that. Her eyes glanced at the swing set pole for a moment, when she suddenly let out a gasp.

"What's wrong?" She had been quiet for over a minute so her gasp took him by surprise; perhaps this was just some sort of delayed reaction to the information he had just disclosed to her?

"I- it's just-someone wrote a curse word in sharpie on the pole right here where any young child could come along and read it at any moment!"

Severus raised an eyebrow. "So?"

Lily gaped at him, looking somewhat like a fish out of water, albeit a very attractive fish Snape thought. " _So_? You-you can't just go around scribbling  _swears_  onto public property, where any innocent child can see it! That's _vandalism_!"

"It’s not the worst crime there is out there, "Snape countered.

"Well, all right you do have a point, "Lily conceded. "But there's a huge difference between illegally spray-painting art on the side of a dirty building and corrupting children! I can't believe someone actually did this at a playground, with the knowledge that any innocent child could see that!"

Snape could not help it; he laughed.

"What's so funny?" Lily crossed her arms.

"You do realize-"The rest of Snape's sentence was drowned out by his uncontrollable chuckling.

" _Sev_!" Lily pouted.

"You do realize, "Snape was somewhat able to control himself now." That there have been much worse words than that inscribed on various pieces of playing equipment here since we were children?"

The look on Lily's face resulted in Severus howling with laughter once more.

"After-all these years, "he managed to choke out, tears of mirth rolling down his face." You never noticed that?"

"Well-I- I didn't know any curse words until I met you, remember? "Lily reminded him, blushing furiously.

"How could I forget?" Severus recalled though his gales of laughter the time he had taught naive little Lily Evans how to swear properly in exchange for kisses. "That was the day I learned your sister is much stronger than she looks."

An idea struck Lily. She got up and walked around the playground, examining the underside of a slide. "There are even more under here! There's hardly an inch of the slide that's not covered in profanities!"

"While it's not as impressive, "Severus stood up and walked towards to the teeter totter. "There are a fair amount of those words over here too."

As Snape showed Lily the vandalized property, a thought occurred to her that made her feel rather giddy all of a sudden.

"I've got an idea, "She giggled. "I'm going to go back to my house and fetch some sharpies to cross out all of these words, and replace them with some vocabulary more appropriate for their age group. I'll write…rainbows, unicorns, cupcakes… I'll throw in some good SAT words! "Lily added.

"Oh yes, "Severus sniggered. "Because words like rainbows, unicorns, and cupcakes are of course, the key words for entering any stately university."

Lily giggled some more. "Not  _those_  words-necessarily- but words like academic, perpendicular, voluminous, flibbertigibbet-"

"What?" Snape cackled. "Is that even a real word?"

"It actually is, as a matter of fact, "Lily answered truthfully, trying to control her giggles as she gasped with laughter.

"Oh? What does it mean? Snape inquired amidst his chuckling.

"It-means, "Lily tried valiantly to keep a straight face." A flighty or whimsical person; it describes you perfectly Sev."

She tittered as he attempted to scowl at her, but wound up smirking instead; it was hard for him to ever be mad at Lily, and on the rare occasion he was he could never stay mad at her for long.

"I'm going to go back home now to get a sharpie. Do you want to come with me?" Lily turned to Snape.

"You're not actually serious about this, are you? "Sev inquired half amused half incredulous.

She shrugged. "Why not?" She then took him by the hand, leading him home.

When they arrived at her house , she commented before ringing the door bell, "Petunia's not here right now, by the way."

They entered the house after she rang the doorbell and Mrs. Evans let them in. A minute later, they racing back to the playground at Lily's rather giddy insistence, a packet of sharpies, prepared to paint a rainbow of lovely words on the playground equipment.

Lily chose to conveniently forget that this technically counted as vandalism albeit for a good cause as she took out a green marker, removed the cap and started crossing off some of the words.

Severus shook his head, trying not to smile. "I can't believe you are actually going through with this."

"Well, I am, "Lily responded as she wrote the word 'anecdote' over a certain word that rhymes with fire truck and begins with the same letter as fire truck does. She paused for a moment after she finished, wondering what word to write next. "Say Sev, how do you spell aphrodisiac?"

Severus raised an eyebrow as the corner his upper lip curled upwards before giving her the correct spelling. He always loved it when Lily asked him questions, expecting him to know the answer; it made him feel intelligent and strong. Powerful. Then: "Lily."

"Yes?"

"Do you know what an aphrodisiac is?"

"Isn't it something that causes excitement? "Said Lily, a slightly confused look on her face. "Like…visiting the theatre, or watching a dramatic film?"

Severus smirked. "Well… I suppose one could say you are technically right , in the loosest sense of the word." He then leaned down to whisper the real definition of the word into Lily's ear and how it is commonly used.

Severus roared with laughter as Lily's cheeks flushed scarlet and she hastily attempted to abolish the word from the slide she had just written it on. "You know, "he remarked, still laughing, as he wiped a tear of mirth from his eye," it really is quite ironic… here you are trying to exterminate those…less than appropriate words on the children's playing equipment…only to write words just like those, albeit more sophisticated."

"I-I didn't know, "Lily stammered, still blushing.

"You know, "Snape joked. "I highly doubt you are going to be made prefect Lily, if this kind of behavior keeps up…"

"The letters come out next week, I heard, "she commented. "If I don't become one, I'll give you my last box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans."

"And if you miraculously do, "Supplied Snape." I will give you a chocolate frog."

He was only joking about her not becoming one; it was blaringly obvious to both of them she would. Needless to say, Lily Evans was happily eating a chocolate frog next week.

A/N: Believe it or not, Lily's reaction to the graffiti on the playground is based on a true story. I know someone who never noticed this until recently and was shocked. I couldn't help but find the whole thing hilarious. Also, Snape's mom having an affair may become very important later on…;D.  
About that blink and you'll miss it line where Snape recalls teaching Lily swears in exchange for kisses when they were younger, that will pop up in a flashback in chapter 4…  
Just a heads up: Next chapter's going to be pretty intense .XD  
Please review! ~:)


	3. Sirius Mayhem

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who commented or left kudos!  
Before this chapter starts, I would just like to address a couple of points from Chapter 2. When Snape came over to Lily's house, Mrs. Evans didn't comment on his damaged face. The reason is because she has known Severus for years and has seen him with injuries like this before. Now, she suspects that Severus is being abused at home of course, but as she has no proof there's not much she can do, so she occasionally asks him about it, but he always tells her he injured himself doing something for Hogwarts. Severus doesn't tell her what his dad's doing because he doesn't trust Muggles, so he figures telling someone won't make a difference or may even make the situation even worse. As she cannot disprove Severus, Mrs. Evans has not called child services or anything like that, even though she wants to. She also does not because she know it could risk exposure of the wizarding world, and she may get in trouble. In addition, I do not know how effective or strong child protection laws were in England during the Marauder Era(the 1970s) so it may be possible that even if she did call child services nothing much would change.  
As for why Snape's mom hasn't stood up to her husband using her magic…well, there actually is a really legitimate reason for that…. That I shall reveal later on. ;D  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this fanfic except for my OCs.  
When Mary Macdonald did not come to class the day after she was attacked, not many people noticed but for the few that did just assumed she was sick and in the hospital wing. They were half right, at any rate. None of the Gryffindors who had been with Mary reported what had happened to their classmates; Madam Pomfrey had given them strict orders not to until they were all interviewed to determine what really happened. As for Mulciber, he was suspended from class before he could even speak of the event to any of his classmates; his father had arrived at school to have an interview with the school board with his son, determining whether or not the curse he used was worthy of expulsion. It wasn't until the next morning, when people noticed that both Mary and Mulciber had not been seen for nearly two days that the school began buzzing about what was going on. It was no secret that Mulciber had a fondness for the dark arts; he had gotten into trouble before for using Dark Magic. Did he use any on Mary? To add to the excitement, James Potter, Sirius, Black Remus Lupin, and Lily Evans were all absent called out of class that morning and did not return until lunch.  
The reason for their temporary absence was because when Dumbledore went to visit Mary in the Hospital Wing to hear her side of the story pertaining to the events of the other night, all of the students involved-including Mulciber-had to be interviewed as well in order to fully comprehend the situation. Mulciber was returned to classes Friday afternoon; however whether or not he would finally be expelled would not be determined until the end of the period, when Mulciber would be summoned to the Headmaster's office to receive the final verdict. He would remain in class until then.  
Students all asked the Gryffindors-aside from Mary, who was still hospitalized- about what had happened. All four told a slightly censored version of the story under the orders of the Headmaster; they excluded the part about Mary having a job in Hogsmeade. They claimed that Mary had been on her way to bed when Mulciber ran into her and started harassing her, so she snapped at him, before he proceeded to curse her.  
They were prohibited to tell the other student's about Mary's job, so this version was more or less the gist of what happened censoring them being in Hogsmeade (it would look suspicious for Mary to be in Hogsmeade without mentioning her job, so the Hogsmeade part was exterminated entirely in their retelling, and the entire incident took place at Hogwarts, rather than just half of it).  
Even Mulciber was prohibited from telling about Mary's job, and miraculously enough he too respected the Headmaster's wishes in that respect. In fact, Mulciber had no qualms about censoring the story whatsoever. So much so that he would tell his Slytherin buddies that Mary had randomly approached Mulciber after curfew saying all of those nasty things she had said to him, only in this version she had no good reason to do so; he decided to conveniently forget the fact he had been sexually harassing and even downright assaulting her and that she was perfectly in the right to stand up for herself, even if that did mean she said some rather unpleasant things as well. No, in Mulciber's story, he was the victim. Mary Macdonald had been unnecessarily cruel to him and he was only giving her "what she deserved."  
But more on that later.  
The class the fifth year Gryffindors had right after lunch was Potions, a class shared between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. The entire class had heard the story at lunch, whether it be Mulciber's version or the Gryffindor's version. Well, almost the entire class. Karen Smith, as usual, hadn't the foggiest idea what was going on.  
Karen Smith was known as "Slytherin's Brainless Beauty" for a reason. With her fair skin, wide hazel eyes, stunningly pretty coppery brown hair that cascaded past her shoulder blades, a stellar smile and gentle facial features, she was undeniably beautiful. Unfortunately, she wasn't perceived as being anywhere near as intelligent as she was attractive by her peers; even her own housemates mocked her lack of intelligence. By her fifth year, it had become slang known to everyone at Hogwarts except for the first years during the first month of the year to refer to making a very dumb mistake as "pulling a Karen Smith." Karen had become infamous for her vastly less than intelligent behavior. How she had made it to fifth year was the biggest mystery at Hogwarts; just last week she had asked Slughorn what a cauldron was. One might find this funny had they not realized Karen was actually dead serious.  
Karen's… confusion, for lack of a better word, was often quiet amusing to spectators though. Sometimes the Marauders even looked forward to Potions simply because Karen was almost guaranteed to do or say something hilarious as a result of her ignorance. She was also an excellent person to pull pranks on. Harmless ones, of course :Karen Smith was one of the few Slytherins they actually liked-and they knew who could take a joke-, so they made sure none of their jokes were ever mean or would upset Karen.  
Today, though, they were in a foul mood as they caught sight of the Slytherins in Potions. They were all furious at him for what he had done to Mary.  
He noticed their presence and talked loud enough so that they could overhear him, "You know how MacDonald's been absent for the past couple of days Avery? Well,-"  
"Marlene's been absent?" Karen piped up.  
Both boys stared at her quizzically for a moment before Avery realized what she meant.  
"Her name's not Marlene, Karen, "he explained. "Her name's Mary Macdonald. You're thinking of Marlene Mckinnon."  
Karen still looked confused.  
"Do you remember back in first year when we all put on the school production of Mary Macdonald Had a Farm? "Avery pressed.  
"Oh God, don't remind me, "Mulciber griped. "I still cannot believe the school not only let us, but forced us to reenact a play based off of a filthy Muggle song!"  
Avery nodded in agreement. "Bloody disgusting, that was. "He turned back to Karen. "Do you remember the girl who played the star of the show?"  
Karen nodded.  
"That was Mary Macdonald, "Avery informed her.  
Sure enough, a look of comprehension dawned on Karen's ordinarily clueless features."Oh, I remember that play! It was so much fun; I got to play a sheep! "She reminisced happily.  
"Fun?" Snape had arrived. "How in the hell was acting out that monstrous-"  
"Actually Karen," Avery spoke over him. "You played a cow, not a sheep."  
"No, I played a sheep, "Karen spoke as if she were explaining the facts of life to a five year old. "Sheep go MOOO!" Several people in the vicinity jumped; if nothing else, Karen Smith was good at impersonating animals and could mimic the sound of any given animal. In fact, a few of these classmates actually believed for a moment a cow had somehow gotten on school grounds until realizing Karen had just produced the noise.  
"Er, no Karen, cows go moo. Sheep go baaahh." Avery explained.  
"Oy Prongs, "Sirius exclaimed loudly for everyone within the proximity to hear. "Do you remember what part Mulciber played during our school production of Mary Macdonald Had a Farm back in first year?"  
"Oh that's easy Padfoot," James replied. "He was an utter jackass." There were some laughs in the crowd as people understood the double entendre.  
"What's a jackass?" Karen solicited innocently.  
"A donkey," Sirius answered swiftly. "He was most certainly a jackass, wouldn't you say Karen?"  
"Oh yes, totally,"Karen agreed. " It was the part he was born to play!"  
Several people in the crowd-even people from Mulciber's own house- howled with laughter. "What's so funny?"Karen was still oblivious to the joke. Really, everyone except Mulciber, Avery, Snape and Karen were laughing.  
"You think your funny, you two-"Mulciber began before James interrupted.  
"We don't think we're funny, we know we're funny."  
Mulciber was about to retort when right at that moment Slughorn came bustling down the corridor to permit them to enter the dungeons. The class took their usual seats, still chattering.  
"Anyway, "Mulciber carried on as if he had not been interrupted as he sat down." You're probably wondering why Macdonald is not here to-"  
"Oh, I know why she's not here"Said Karen. The entire class fell silent: Could Karen actually be knowledgeable about something for once?  
"Mary's been kidnapped by clowns." Karen announced  
Avery blinked. "What's a clown?"  
"An Inferius in its natural state,"Karen replied.  
"Who cares,"snapped Mulciber."As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted-"  
"Settle down, settle down," Slughorn attempted to get the class's attention. Once he finally did, he proceeded,"Today I will partner one Slytherin and one Gryffindor each to work together to brew a potion. Each Slytherin student and each Gryffindor student will receive the same grade for the potion they produced together; therefore, I expect no sabotage, lest it impact your own grade as well as your partner's. Now-"  
"Excuse me Professor,"Mulciber said in a tone of mock concern. "But it appears that Gryffindor House is missing one of its members. We have an odd number of students today, it seems. What should we do about that?"He smirked in the general direction of where the majority of the Gryffindors were seated. Almost every single Gryffindor in their class sent glares in his direction. The only exception being Mary, who was in the Hospital Wing, although she undoubtedly would have done the same if not much worse had she been there.  
Even Slughorn sensed what Mulciber was up to. "I was going to say, before you ever so impolitely interrupted me, Mulciber, was that there would be one group of two Slytherins and one Gryffindor. Every other group would consist of one Gryffindor and one Slytherin. Perhaps if you tried listening sometimes, you would understand what is going on, Mulciber."  
Slughorn's gooseberry eyes scanned the classroom in contemplation momentarily. His decision may have seemed foolhardy to some, in recent light of events most recent, yet Slughorn believed this idea may actually be prosperous; if students from both houses were paired together, they could not harm one another or sabotage the other's work without running the risk of ruining their own grade. Thus, this should serve as an incentive for them to behave. Now, who should he pair his students with? He decided with the group of three. He did not want the sole Gryffindor in that group to be meek, but at the same time not be too headstrong. He settled on Lily Evans. However, he did not want his favorite student paired up with some of the brutes from his house (even Slughorn acknowledged there were a couple of bad eggs in his house) so almost all of the Slytherin boys were out of the question, except for Severus Snape. Snape and Lily it was then. Just one more… His eyes scanned the Slytherin girls. Unsurprisingly, they were much better behaved and mature than their male counterparts. Any of them would do. He decided to pick one at random in his head.  
"The group consisting of three people will contain Severus Snape, Lily Evans, and…Karen Smith." He decided. He knew that his two prized potion pupils excelled at potions so well that not even Karen could unintentionally ruin their potion(unintentionally, being as Karen would never attempt to sabotage another person's work);it was a win win situation. If only the rest of the class were so easy…  
"Potter you will be paired with…. Miss Zellar," Slughorn announced after he had paired off the majority of the class a few minutes later. James groaned, although he supposed it could have been worse. After all, he could have been paired with Avery or Mulciber. Zoe Zellar was James' rival on the Quidditch field; she was one of Slytherin House's Chasers. Needless to say, they did not get on very well.  
"Mr. Lupin and..Avery,"Slughorn had very few options left. The only students left were Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, Malum Mulciber, and a Slytherin girl who did not come off as being particularly threatening, achieved decent potions grades and would most likely not attempt to hex the living daylights out of Pettigrew, unlike Mulciber. On the other hand, Sirius and Mulciber spelled trouble, but at least Sirius could defend himself, and hopefully both boys would have enough common sense not to have a go at each other during class.  
"Mulciber and Black, Pettigrew and Miss…Johnson? "Come to think of it, he did not even remember the girl's name after teaching her for over four years; that really was quite remarkable. "Any problems?" If he heard the girl politely mumble her surname was not Johnson, he ignored it. "Very well then, get to work."  
As the students seated themselves appropriately and gathered their ingredients, Sirius glared daggers at Mulciber the entire time. Yes, he had insulted Mulciber in front of the entire class, but that did not compensate for what Mulciber had done to Mary. Mary, who Sirius had not ever, in over four years of knowing her, ever seen express any signs of vulnerability up until that night, where she lay writhing on the ground and on the hospital bed, screaming. He had heard that curse was almost half as bad as the Cruciatus curse. How could Mulciber not get expelled for this? Sirius strongly hoped he would be. He had to give Mary credit though; not once, despite all the pain she was experiencing, did she ever cry as far as he could see. She seemed to retain as much dignity as possible in a situation such as that, which was saying something. Although, in a situation like that, dignity was the last thing on your mind.  
Meanwhile at the table of three, Snape had left to fetch the ingredients for the girls; he always offered to retrieve the potions ingredients when working with Lily and did not trust Karen to gather the supplies without doing something stupid. He was both pleased and disappointed with the seating arrangement. Pleased because he got to be with Lily, and disappointed because Karen had to be with them too. He knew it wasn't her fault, but he had wanted to work with Lily alone. The did not see each other anywhere near as often as he would have liked, and he preferred their time together to be spent alone. Of course, if he had his way, there would be scarcely a second of the day when he and Lily were separated.  
While Snape gathered the materials, Karen exclaimed eagerly to Lily, "I'm so glad we get to be potions partners Lily! We always work so well together, don't you think?"  
"Oh, um…yes," Lily did not know how to honestly answer this. In fairness though, Karen did have a point. They usually got good grades when they worked together…if only because Lily did most of the work and gave Karen specific instructions about what to do.  
"And you're such a good teacher Lily! "Karen pressed on." Do you remember when you tutored me last year?"  
"Yes." How could I forget? Lily though this but did not say it out loud. Karen was easily the most ignorant student Lily had ever tutored. Still, she tried very hard, and Lily admired her for that. After all, many people would get very disheartened after trying so hard and failing so many times, but Karen never gave up. Not even once.  
"I think I learned more with you than any of the other tutors I ever went through! By the way, "a curious look passed on Karen's face. " Why was everyone laughing at what I said earlier?"  
"Oh, well, you inadvertently made what is known as a double entendre Karen,"Lily began before she realized Karen probably did not understand half of what she had just said. " A double entendre is when you say something that has more than one meaning. "  
"Like peanut allergies?"Said Karen.  
"What?"Said Lily, unsure if she could have heard right.  
"Well,"Karen elucidated. "if you have a peanut allergy it means one of two things:You are either allergic to peanuts, or you are going nuts."  
"…Karen who told you that?" Lily did not know whether or not she should laugh or cry that Karen actually thought that.  
Karen pointed to James, who was currently having an argument with Zoe Zellar.  
"No Potter, I already got half of our ingredients. You go retrieve the other half. "Zoe flipped her golden hair over her shoulder.  
"Well, as I am the better flier on the pitch than you are and Gryffindor House won the Quidditch Cup last year,"He smirked, feet propped up on the desk lazily. "I believe that you should be a good loser and go get the stuff; it'll help keep you in shape for our next match,. I'll still win of course, make no mistake about that;I am just feeling in a generous sort of mood today, so that maybe when you lose again next time your house won't be as ashamed, since they came in slightly closer than last time."  
"Need I remind you Potter,"Zoe snapped, amber eyes flashing."That Slytherin actually beat Gryffindor in the last game we played against each other. Your house may have won the cup last year, but we still beat you in the actual match."  
"Details, details,"Sighed James."Now be a dear and go retrieve the god da-"  
"James!"Lily interrupted, looking mildly annoyed.  
"Yes?"James' voice immediately became deeper and more mature sounding.  
"Why did you feel it necessary to tell Karen that having a peanut allergy could be a sign of insanity?" Lily could not believe she was actually having to ask him something like this.  
"just for a laugh, that's all, "James shrugged.  
"Wait, so they're not a sign of insanity?"Said Karen.  
"No Karen they're not,"Zoe quipped."But someone actually saying something as ludicrous as that to somebody may well be a sign of stupidity." She sent James a falsely welcoming glance as she said this, in a voice as sweet as honey.  
Snape overheard this and chuckled as he walked back to his table; he and Zoe were not good friends, per say, but she was certainly more likeable in his opinion than most of the other people in this ridiculous school. At any rate, it was always nice to see someone other than him deflating Potter's almost infinite ego, regardless of who it was.  
"Found that funny, did you Snivellus, "James remarked. A hush fell over the class.  
"Well yes,"Snape smirked."It's nice to know that I'm not the only one here who understands what an imbecile you are."  
"It's nice to know I'm not the only one who realizes how ugly you are,"James shot back. A couple of people gasped at this, but Sirius and Peter howled with laughter. Several other people joined in.  
"Now really,"Slughorn interjected."That was really uncalled for-"  
Snape raised his wand at James. "Langlock!"  
James felt his tongue being bound in his mouth; it was not a pleasant feeling, to say the least. He tried to talk but, as his tongue was bound, was only able to produce an incoherent string of odd sounds. Some of the Slytherins-including Snape of course-laughed.  
"Stop this at once!" Slughorn thundered.  
Snape ignored him and performed a different spell on James this time. "Levicorpus!" James found himself floating into the air, turned upside down and the only thing he could register was that he was terrified yet very relieved he was wearing trousers underneath his robes or else-  
"Severus!"Snape suddenly felt an arm grasp his, and looked into Lily's face. Etched onto her beautiful features was a look he had never wanted to cause to yet had appear there: Fear.  
"Liberacorpus,"he muttered after he had levitated James down to about half a foot above the floor and James dropped to the ground. None of his bones were broken, nor was he in any danger of being seriously injured, but he was in pain nonetheless. "Finite." Snape added reluctantly so that Potter's tongue uncurled itself.  
"Detention for both of you!"Slughorn bellowed. "Outrageous! My God, honestly, you are fifth years, behave yourselves!"He turned to James."Black will accompany you to the Hospital Wing." Sirius grabbed his bag, stood up, and escorted James out of the room."And you!"he turned to Snape."I expect you to report to Dumbledore immediately!" Snape left without a word.

"…Can't believe old Sluggy gave you detention when you were the one who got jinxed!" Sirius continued to rant as they walked to the hospital wing. "Granted, that greasy little git got detention too, but really, I don't see why you should be in trouble; you were just telling it like it is!"  
Although James did not feel like speaking, he was nodding his head fervently in assent, a pout plastered on his face. "Well, Madam Pomfrey should be able to fix you up. I've never heard of any of those spell before that Snivellus used earlier. Have you?"  
James shook his head.  
Sirius suddenly looked very excited. "Maybe if it's Dark Magic we can get him expelled!"  
James snapped. "And what good would that do?"  
Sirius blinked. "Mate, I'm sorry if it sounded like I thought it was exciting or anything. Because I didn't. I was actually-"  
"I know what you mean,"James assured him and meant it; he always understood Sirius. " I know you want Snivellus to be expelled so we never have to see him grease up the halls again. But I was just thinking. Yes, he would be gone. But there are others like him out there. Death Eaters, I mean. I don't have any actual proof, but we all know where that slimy git is heading; Lily's just too kind and naïve to admit or see it. There will still be others like him out there. Mulciber, Avery. I wouldn't be surprised if they become Death Eaters before we even graduate. Maybe it's possible they already are.  
No, the only thing that could stop that lot would be if they died. Snivellus could always obtain another wand if he got expelled and just use all of the magic he uses already to wreak havoc on the world. Same goes for Mulciber, Avery, and the rest. Yes, they snap your wand when you get expelled, but that doesn't eliminate the possibility of obtaining another one and just practicing all of the Dark Magic you already know and learn more from other death Eaters. Not that I hope Mulciber doesn't get expelled, I just don't see how that could do much good. I suppose it's better than him sticking around here though."  
They reached the Hospital Wing.  
"Hey, Mary's probably in here,"Sirius realized."Do you want to say hello?"  
"I suppose,"James shrugged as they entered. Mary was sitting up in one of the beds. A beautiful blonde girl was perched on a chair next to the bed. They appeared to be in conversation but stopped short as soon as they saw James and Sirius enter the room.  
Madam Pomfrey spotted them instantly."What is it this time boys?"  
James explained the situation. " …and so Professor Slughorn wanted to make sure I wasn't injured in any way that you could see."  
Madam Pomfrey took out her wand, and cast an incantation neither James nor Sirius recognized. "You are in no danger as far as I can recognize Potter." She looked at the clock. "It is roughly a ten minute walk from here to the dungeons, and there are only fifteen minutes left of classes. Perhaps it would be best if you stay here, since you must still be in shock. Yes, I think a little lie down is all you need. After this period ends, you may proceed to your next class. Unless you truly are still in shock. And don't even think of pretending to be in shock when you're not Mr. Potter,"She added, sensing what James was thinking. "I know you well enough by now to know when you are faking and when you are serious."  
"May I stay here too, Madam Pomfrey?" Sirius inquired. "Slughorn would want me to make sure James was okay before taking him back to class, I believe, based on past experiences."  
Madam Pomfrey considered this for a moment, before deciding,"very well Mr. Black, if that is what you wish. However, if I sense any rowdiness from you I will not hesitate to kick you out for disrupting the patient. Understood?"  
"Of course,"Sirius smiled dazzlingly. Sirius then noticed the seat next to Mary was now vacant. "Where did the blonde girl go who was here earlier?"  
"She left, "Mary stated simply.  
"Who was she anyway?"Sirius pulled over a couple another chair over to Mary's bed.  
"That's really none of your business, Black. Why are you moving that chair over here? " James and Sirius had placed themselves by Mary's be when she was speaking.  
"We have some time to kill,"Sirius remarked offhandedly. "Let's talk."  
"About?" Mary raised an eyebrow.  
"Anything you want,"Sirius suggested. "How have you been you doing lately?"  
"Oh, just swimmingly,"Mary replied, voice dripping with sarcasm." It's really lovely being stuck in doors with nothing to do except school work, and even then there's a lot of free time left over, where the only activities you may engage in are pondering and lamenting."  
"Not too well then?"James inferred.  
"What was your first clue?"Mary snarked.  
"I can understand why you'd be rather bored here,"Said James. "I'm bored out of my skull just talking to you right now."  
"Always the gentleman, aren't you Potter? "Mary deadpanned.  
"Are you always this friendly to people who visit you?"James inquired."Or is it just us?"  
"Just you,"Mary answered coolly.  
"I feel so honored,"James placed his hand over his heart."What about you Padfoot?"  
"Indubitably" Sirius agreed.  
"Although,"Mary mused." I haven't really had many visitors so that's not something you should go around bragging about; you two could easily not have been the only ones to receive such reception if I had more visitors."  
"Who else has visited you then?"Sirius solicited.  
"Well, everyone who visited me this morning for one,"Mary began."And that doesn't really count because it was mandatory. Although Lily's dropped by to give me my homework. "  
"And the mysterious blonde who visited just now yet whose name you are unwilling to disclose to us at present, "Sirius added.  
"At present?" She raised her eyebrow again. "More like ever."  
"Blimey Mary, "James piped up. "Don't you have any friends?"  
Sirius could have kicked him. Of all the idiotic things James had ever said, this one certainly made the top ten. Perhaps even the top 5. If she starts crying any second James, I swear I will kill you. Sirius thought to himself.  
Yet to Sirius's surprise Mary didn't even cry; in fact, she did not seem moved by what James had said at all. She merely shrugged in response, not seeming to care in the slightest.  
Evidently James seemed to realize that even though Mary was unaffected by what he had said, it was still a moronic thing to say so he hastily changed topics. " So, what are you going to do once you get out of here?"  
Mary stared quizzically at him."What do you mean?"  
"Well,"he began."Are you going to do anything special once you get out? Aren't you going to try to get Mulciber back? He might be expelled, but you could still get revenge somehow."  
" Is it definite that he will be expelled then?" Mary tried to keep her voice level, but her eyes shone with excitement, something they seldom did.  
"Well we don't know for certain as of now," Sirius explained."But Mulciber was sent to class with us for today while the school board decides that. They were actually supposed to summon him at the end of class, which should be right about now actually. They will tell him what his punishment is…right about now actually. And if he stays, he just goes on to class next period. "  
"So, how are you going to get him back?" James grinned.  
Mary glanced at him incredulously. "Are you daft? I'm not going to do something like that."  
"What?!"James spluttered, completely losing his cool. Even Sirius looked surprised.  
"He comes from an influential family of Dark Wizards,"Mary elucidated, slightly taken aback by their reactions." Of course I'm going to try and stay clear of him; it's for my own safety. Hurting him won't solve anything anyway. It's just common sense. That's like looking for someone who wants you dead. What types of fools do these sorts of things?"  
James and Sirius shifted uncomfortably; they were the types of fools Mary was talking about.  
"I'm not saying if he ever bothers me again I won't do anything,"Mary went on."For his sake he better not, unless he wants to be sent to Hell and back by the time I'm through with him. I don't forgive easily; Mulciber better watch himself, now that I loathe the very core of him. I am not afraid of him. I can protect myself ;I've faced worse than Mulciber."  
This completely threw James and Sirius.  
"What do you mean you've faced worse than Mulciber?"Sirius demanded.  
Before Mary could respond, Madam Pomfrey bustled over. "All right boys, I think you should return to class now."  
"But-"  
"Out now, "Madam Pomfrey said not unkindly but sternly all the same."The patient needs her rest."

All throughout their next class(Transfiguration) the marauders and really almost everyone in class silently prayed Mulciber would get expelled; everyone in the room had heard about what had transpired between Mulciber and Mary and were all disgusted with him. Incidentally, this was not a class the Gryffindors shared with the Slytherins. As they boys practiced Vanishing Spells, James and Sirius divulged what had happened at the hospital wing.  
"What does she mean when she says she faced worse than Mulciber?"Remus wondered once they finished speaking.  
"We don't know,"Sirius lamented. "Madam Pomfrey kicked us out before she could tell us. Although I suspect she probably wouldn't have told us anyway even if we stayed."  
"That's a very frightening thought,"Remus stated thoughtfully."I mean, what could she have ever experienced that was worse than sexual harassment and assault, and Dark Magic all in one night?"  
"Wait a moment, James stepped in." When was there sexual assault involved?"  
Remus stared at him in disbelief, and then noticed Sirius and Peter had the same looks of confusion on their faces as James had. "Let's think for a moment. He kissed her without her consent and she had to resort to kicking him in the balls just to get him to stop. Obviously, he didn't just kiss her because he thought she would like that and stopped as soon as he noticed she didn't want him to do that. Kissing someone against their will to the point where the only way one can defend oneself is to resort to physical violence as self-defense is something I would definitely classify as sexual assault."  
Sirius and James' faces paled a bit; they hadn't quite grasped the gravity of that aspect when Mary told them about it that morning. Naturally, they had not found it acceptable in any way shape or form when they heard it and knew what Mulciber had done was wrong and absolutely not Mary's fault; just how grave his misdeed was did not entirely sink in until now. They had been paying so much attention to the Dark Arts part of the whole experience they almost overlooked this.  
Remus hesitated a moment before speaking again. He Vanished his snail as McGonagall walked by noticing his progress.(He had been working and listening to his friends simultaneously) "Excellent work as usual Lupin. "She then turned to the rest of the group, who had not even started. She looked as if she were about to scold them for a moment, but walked away instead; McGonagall had appreciated the amount of support the boys had offered Mary recently, and evidently was in a generous mood towards them for the time being. She had not even questioned what they were doing up after hours the night before when they found Mary.  
Although Peter had not been with them that night, she chose not to say anything to him about his lack of progress; he could always point out she hadn't said anything to James and Sirius.  
"Anyway, "Remus muttered. "Let's just say the situation had been a bit different. What if Mary had not known where to kick him to get him to back off? Or what if he had used some Dark Spell on her that could prevent her from moving? Or if she wasn't physically strong enough to get him off of her? God only knows what could have happened-"  
"Remus we get it,"Sirius stopped him. Sirius did not want to think any more on this topic. Yet he couldn't help it. If Mary had faced worse than a teenage boy who sexually assaulted her and used Dark Magic on her, what else had she experienced that was worse than that? He concluded she was not well off,to say the least. Sirius had never heard of any Hogwarts student having a job in Hogsmeade other than Mary , and he had not found that out until last night, despite knowing her for over four years. Come to think of it though, despite knowing Mary for that long, he barely even knew her at all really. They had never interacted much.  
Anyway, Mary was not the only poor student who attended Hogwarts. Why did none of them have permission from the school to have jobs on weekdays after curfew but Mary did? That must mean her financial circumstances surpassed poor. If she was as poor as he speculated she was –though he had to give her some credit; the way she dressed and acted would not give anyone the impression she came from a financially disastrous background- she most likely lived in a very bad neighborhood. Possibly a very dangerous one. He tried not to dwell on this and what may or may not have happened to Mary.  
Class ended at long last and the students filed out of the classroom. For once the boys found themselves looking for Mulciber. It was a very strange sensation. They stopped when they saw him standing in the courtyard , talking to Snape and Avery.  
"Oy Mulciber,"James called. "Shouldn't you be getting the train home?"  
"Of course not Potter,"Mulciber smirked. " Why would I? Surely you do not actually think I am expelled, do you?"  
James stopped in his tracks."What?"  
"Have a nice day Potter,"Mulciber laughed and walked off with Avery and Snape, who were sniggering and smirking as smugly as he.

"How is he not expelled?"James ranted back in their dormitory. "This isn't even the first time he's used Dark Magic before!"  
"His father visited the school I heard,"Remus theorized. " It's probably safe to assume he bribed the school governors or threatened them with his connections." He looked out the window nervously. James noticed he looked rather pale and then suddenly remembered why.  
"Oh my God, it's full moon tonight isn't it? "He realized.  
Remus nodded, eyes still fixated on the window. "Yeah, I'm going to have to leave immediately after dinner tonight."  
Meanwhile, Sirius lay on his stomach on his bed, a look of deep contemplation on his face. If his friends had been paying more attention to him, they might have noticed that the Marauder's Map was propped open right in front of him. He got out of bed and stood up. "I'm going to go to the bathroom. Don't follow me."  
"If you fall in, call me," James hollered over his shoulder as Sirius exited the room before he promptly returned to ranting.  
In reality, Sirius had a different location in mind that he intended to go to. He exited the common room and walked towards the courtyard. Sure enough Mulciber, Avery, and Snape were still there, only in a different area of it now.  
Mulciber had just finished bragging to Snape and Avery about what had transpired between him and Mary. Or rather, he was giving the censored version of the story, unbeknownst to Sirius. In this story, he never harassed or assaulted Mary. He wasn't even in Hogsmeade in this version; he had simply been up late, ran into Mary in the halls by accident, resulting in her spewing all of the awful things she had said, only this time for no justified reason, and he cursed her as "punishment".  
"And while I'm not expelled for all of that of course,"Mulciber was saying now. "I still have to serve detention every day for three months and am prohibited from going to Hogsmeade until I serve all of my detentions. Despite the fact I was only giving that cold hearted bint a taste of her own medicine and teaching her a lesson or two in manners, I'm the one getting punished. Ridiculous."  
Meanwhile, Snape had not been having a good day. When Slughorn sent him to Dumbledore, Dumbledore gave him detention every day for a week. Something which was grossly unfair in Snape's opinion; after all, Potter had insulted him first and he was only receiving one detention. Moreover, he had frightened Lily, and was remorseful about that. Suffice to say, he had been in a bad day. He needed to vent. "You're absolutely right of course,"he agreed. "If anyone should be getting punished it should be her; that bitch got exactly what she deserved."  
Something within Sirius burst like a dam. So, it was Mary's fault Mulciber chose to harass and assault her? She deserved to be Cursed simply for defending herself? Sirius was at the moment, still unseen by the boys for he was hidden behind a pillar he was leaning against that was not facing them.  
"Hey Snape, you coming with us? "Avery was questioning Snape.  
'I can't,"Said Snape. "I have to write that stupid History of Magic Paper Binns assigned us. And since I have that detention to serve after dinner I might as well start that now, since I have detention every night and won't have as much time to work on it."  
Mulciber and Avery nodded and walked off. Snape sat down under a nearby beech tree . Sirius strolled towards him. "All right there, Snivellus?"  
Snape reached for his wand and was about to pull it out when Sirius stopped him.  
"Oh, keep your greasy hair on for crying out loud Snivellus,"Sirius rolled his eyes."I'm not going to attack you."  
"Then what do you want Black?"Snape spat, not putting his wand away just yet.  
"I just thought you might be interested," Sirius leaned on the tree casually." To know that if you go inside the Whomping Willow tonight as it's full moon and keep going, well… you might see an interesting sight."  
"Oh, and just how exactly do I get inside?"Snape had no idea what Black was up to but…. Perhaps Lupin would be there, if he understood Sirius's innuendo correctly. Perhaps he would finally catch Lupin and reveal him once and for all for what he really was. It was for everyone's own safety, honestly. More importantly, it was for Lily's. He recalled her scared face today in Potions.  
If ever that look ever crossed her features again, he vowed, it would never be because of him. And he would eliminate anyone who could scare his ordinarily fearless Lily like that, or who posed any danger towards her. Oh, his friends didn't count, even though he knew Lily did not like them. Despite the fact some of his friends were blood purists, they had amazingly enough never caused Lily a spec of trouble, if only for one reason; he wouldn't let them. Everyone in Slytherin knew of Snape's reputation with the dark Arts, and many had seen him perform them first hand. They all knew he was the Slytherin who was most advanced in the Dark Arts, and they all had the sense enough not to do anything to aggravate him.  
Everyone knew Snape was fond of Lily, and he had warned his friends ahead of time that if they ever did anything to harm her, there would be Hell to pay. Due to the fact that it was common knowledge as to just how skilled in the Dark Arts Severus was, no one dared disobey him when it came to this topic. None of the Slytherins-or really anyone at Hogwarts for that matter- would ever bully Lily as long as Snape was alive unless they were asking for a death sentence. That's not to say no one ever called her a Mudblood behind her back, but even that didn't happen very often, and that was the only unpleasant thing anyone ever said about Lily, that she was a Mudblood. As of now, no one had ever even said it to her face.  
Though Lily may have disliked them, Lily was not scared of his friends, he knew. So there was no need to get rid of them. They posed no danger towards her. Now Lupin on the other hand….  
He decided he would listen to Black just this once, as Sirius told him all he needed to know on how to get inside the Whomping Willow. It wouldn't be until a few hours later that Sirius would realize the gravity of what he had done.  
A/N…And that was the night Snape discovered Remus was a werewolf and could have died. Originally this chapter was only going to be about 500 words…but then I realized that Snape could have died so I figured there had to be several reasons why Sirius would actually do something like this. He-childish though it undoubtedly is- has had a bad day and is taking out his frustration on Snape, whom he hates. It didn't help the fact that Snape-who wasn't exactly having a great day either- insulted Mary Macdonald(in fairness though, Mulciber did not tell him the whole story) . Sirius wasn't exactly too pleased about that. (*Hint: The interactions between Sirius and Mary will become very important later on ;D) I also like to think that Sirius wasn't thinking when he told Snape that, and it wasn't until after he did that that the reality of the danger he was putting Snape in hit him.  
Also, yes, my OC Karen Smith really is just a blatant rip off of the character of the same name in Mean Girls. They're not the same character though; they have similar personalities and the same name, but they actually are not the same person.

Questions to consider for next time: Who is the mysterious blonde who visited Mary? Why was Avery-who will one day be a Death Eater- being nice to Karen?  
Please review!:D


End file.
